A Kansas City, Kansas, home health care agency and its owner will pay $1.8 million to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks in return for referrals of Medicaid patients to the agency.

Best Choice Home Health Care Agency Inc. and its owner, Reginald B. King, will pay the federal government just over $1 million and the state of Kansas $788,220 to resolve the case, according to court documents unsealed on Monday.

The case was filed under the False Claims Act by the recipient of the kickbacks, Christopher Thomas of Parkville, Missouri. The act allows citizens to sue on behalf of the government and collect a portion of any recovery if the government decides to intervene, which it did in this case.

Although Thomas was the recipient of the illegal kickbacks, he’ll collect $43,178, according to a news release from the Justice Department. That represents 10 percent of the federal share of the settlement, minus the kickbacks he received.

Typically, whistleblowers are entitled to anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of the total recovery in a case. But that share is reduced if the whistleblower himself took part in the fraud.

Thomas’ attorney could not be reached for comment. A call to King at Best Choice’s office was not returned.

Thomas filed his lawsuit under the False Claims Act in May 2013. However, because the act requires that such cases be filed under seal unless and until the government intervenes, it was not made public until Monday.

According to the court documents, here’s how the scheme unfolded:

Best Choice, which was located at 6625 State Avenue until June 2012 and then at 1232 North 79th Street, offered home health care services to Medicaid patients with head injuries. Thomas worked there as an office assistant before setting up his own business, Vision Group Transport Service. The business transported patients from their home to health care facilities.

Around July 2010, King offered to pay Thomas to refer clients to Best Choice. Thomas, who also briefly worked as a case manager at Best Choice while operating Vision Group Transport, accepted.

From about July 2010 to Jan. 25, 2013, Thomas referred more than 100 clients to Best Choice. In return, King paid Thomas and Vision Group $58,000.

Besides paying Thomas, King also paid a former employee for referrals. And according to Thomas, other employees of Best Choice, including relatives of King, falsified the number of hours they worked for clients.

One employee was working at a QuikTrip when he claimed to have performed work as a transitional living specialist (TLS). Another worked full time for Time Warner Cable while reporting up to 80 hours per week of TLS services. Yet another claimed to have performed TLS services for a client who was incarcerated or homeless at the time.

Documents on file with the Kansas Secretary of State’s office show that King, a resident of Shawnee, incorporated Best Choice in 2001.

The Justice Department news release said the claims resolved by the settlement "are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability."

A spokesperson for the Justice Department could not be reached for comment.

Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

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A Kansas City, Kan., home health attendant has been convicted in a federal case based on fraudulent Medicaid billing practices.

Doris Betts, 55, pleaded guilty to health care fraud in federal court. Her conviction was announced Tuesday by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, whose office is working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to investigate home health care fraud in Kansas.